Defense & military market segment is still the largest user of inertial systems with 4% CAGR between 2016 and 2022. In parallel, the commercial aerospace segment is showing an increasing market share. The industrial sector, from its side, is also showing a similar growth with hot emerging applications, like autonomous vehicles, driving some big interests.

In this new report, Yole’s analysts underlines the emergence of new applications like structure/machine monitoring, autonomous vehicles, and microsatellites. According to them, such market segment should increase from US$ 50 million to US$150 million between 2016 and 2022, driven by innovative technologies and market’s demand.

What are the major drivers? What will the market look like in 2022? The “More than Moore” market research and strategy consulting company is showing the major trends of the high-end inertial system industry with deep understanding of inertial sensor value chain, infrastructure & players for the inertial business.

“Defense and commercial aerospace markets have always been the backbone of the high-end inertial system market, and that is still true today, but emerging applications are whetting the appetite of many players”, comments Dr. Guillaume Girardin, Techology & Market Analyst at Yole.

The traditional markets, like defense, commercial aerospace and space applications, have returned to growth after a big slowdown from 2010 2015. For the last two years, the market has been evolving positively thanks to increasing geopolitical risks, and benefiting from the reinvigoration of the commercial aerospace business. And the end of the oil crisis in 2015, combined with increasing purchasing power coming from eastern regions, especially China, has definitely benefited this market. The space market is still evolving at its own pace, with the increasingly important robotic approach coming from players like SpaceX, Blue Origin enabling reusable rocket launchers, democratizing the space market.

In other words, the high-end inertial system market is recovering from a lean period that could bring it, in the long term, into a prosperous time with higher volumes. At long term, the market should be propelled by two major trends: the robotic approach and the growth of industrial applications.

“At Yole, we estimate that the high-end inertial system market has reached the US$3 billion milestone in 2017,” asserts Guillaume Girardin from Yole. “Defense makes up 36 % of this, with commercial aerospace comprising 33 %. Industrial, offshore and maritime applications account for the remaining 31 %.”
With an estimated 5% CAGR for the five next years, the high-end inertial system market is on a good track. The industry is now looking for emerging opportunities to sustain its growth, and this is what we highlight in this report.

Among all applications, emerging ones identified in Yole’s report, previous edition, are still gaining interest. These new applications span from robotics to industrial automation, autonomous cars, ships, planes and drones, structure monitoring, space conquest with reusable rockets and microsatellites. Such uses are expected to add growth. Most players are looking at these new opportunities, partnering with end-users to understand the needs and requirements to adapt the specifications of high-end inertial systems in term of accuracy, volume, shielding and cost.

Currently, most of those applications are in R&D and prototyping phases, but requirements and standards are being defined today, and should impact the market for years. The race into the robotic era is under way and many sensors are in competition. Inertial systems have advantages, and will definitely take part in this revolution that will have a deep impact across the whole industry.